explain the faudal system present in europe in the medival perioud
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Feudal system in Europe in the Medival period-
The term “feudal system” is used by historians to describe a social-political structure which was a key feature of medieval Europe.The word “feudal” derives from the word fief. In brief, a fief was a piece of property which a person was given on condition that he (and occasionally she) performed certain services to the one who gave it.
A person who received a fief was a vassal of the one who had given him the fief, who was his lord. In the agrarian society of medieval Europe, a fief was usually a specified parcel of land.
The services the vassal owed the lord commonly entailed military service for a set amount of time each year (40 days was normal). This would depend on the amount of land involved, which was calculated in multiples of knight’s fees. A knight’s fee was normal the smallest fiefs, a sufficient amount of land to support one knight – enough land, in other words, to support a warrior and his very expensive war-horses, armour and weapons, plus his family and servants (including at least one servant to aid him while on campaign).
So, if a vassal had been granted a fief worth 40 knight’s fees (a very large fief), he would be obliged to furnish his lord with 40 knights for 40 days a year. If he had only been given one knight’s fee, he would either undertake the service himself or (if old or frail) send a substitute.
A vassals was also obliged to provide his lord with money from time to time – for example, when the lord’s son came of age, or the lord’s daughter got married, or if the lord was captured in battle and needed ransoming (quite a common occurrence – a soldier would far prefer to take an enemy prisoner than kill him, as a defeated opponent was worth a lot more alive than dead). He also had a duty to provide his lord with advice. This last was very important for what it led on to (see below, Representative Government).
In return for these services, the lord would promise to protect his vassal (a very valuable commitment in violent times); and to “give him justice” (that is, support him in court).
All these promises and counter-promises were accompanied by solemn oaths, so that the whole was underpinned by strong religious sanctions – which, in a deeply religious age, counted for a great deal.